There are times when you decide it is best to part ways with someone or something that has been part of your life. This weekend was one of those occasions. My trusty Miwok raft that Steve Romoff and I purchased together in 1980 from the original owner of ARTA in California, along with a few other friends who bought into the discounted purchase of Miwoks served me well for 30 plus year. I rowed this raft on three different Grand Canyon trips two of which included Johnny Montezuma, Wayne Ranney and Bryan Brown among other notables. The trusty Miwok ventured down the Middle Fork, Main and Lower Salmon numerous times, typically with me and Steve Romoff sharing kayak and rowing duties. It ventured down the Selway, the San Juan, the Salt, Desolation Canyon and the Green River among others. Steve pretty much quit rafting 15 years ago and simply told me his share of the raft was mine so the raft stayed with me ever since. Once I had Megan and after I got divorced running a bucket bailer with a young child wasn't very practical so I purchased an Aire Ocelot cataraft. Megan loved doing day trips on that with me. But her first river trip at age 5 was the San Juan on that raft. After that she also did the Main and Lower Salmon on it.
Wonderful people from the nearby town of Emmett saw my Craigslist ad and came over to help me blow up the raft, rig the foam under the drop in wood floor and set up the frame and three ancient oars and the thole pins and clips. They fell in love at first sight. Wade, as it turns out, had been a rec planner in Idaho Falls for BLM and managed the South Fork Snake. And has fate would have it, his younger brother followed me around in my career with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, taking three jobs in a row after I had moved on and up the career ladder. How ironic is that? And now his brother is the State Conservationist of Utah for NRCS. Gee, maybe if I'd stayed on I'd be the State Conservationist of Idaho for NRCS but I digress. Was and his wife made a deal with me that I could borrow back the raft at any time if I found a need for a bigger boat. That is the awesome part. My friend Norm Henderson, who sold his Miwok two summers ago cut the same deal with the buyers of his raft, too. So $600 later my dearest Miwok has a new home, and the owners are convinced this was the greatest thing to hit them over the head. Ms. Miwok knows her way around the eddy and I'm certain her new owners will love her as much as I did.
Fast forward to the next googbye. Dancing Bare is my Dagger Dimension tandem whitewater canoe. I fell in love with this particular tandem canoe 20 years ago or so when I ran it on a back to back trip on the Middle Fork Salmon and Main Salmon with my dearest of friends Ms. Lynn Green. We made the entire trip without a single swim and some amazingly fancy eddy hopping in Webber Rapids and Dried Meat, among others. And then there was Tappen Falls. Wowie Zowie. Another trip I did once I purchased my very own Dagger Dimension was with my ex husband on the Main Salmon at 20,000 cfs over 4th of July in 1996 while six months pregnant. I couldn't fit into my wetsuit so had to wear poly pro, fleece, a dry top and neoprene shorts and rain pants. Fortunately for use, we were the only people who didn't swim out of our kayaks or canoes on the self supported trip. And the weather was awesome. I ran that canoe on several other trips on the Middle Fork, Main and Lower Salmon along with Cabarton, Staircase, South Fork Payette Canyon and Main Payette Rivers in Idaho. It made a San Juan trip, a Dirty Devil trip, and several outings on the Upper Salmon near Stanley running Shotgun Rapid and Piece of Cake day stretches. But paddling on my knees has taken it's toll and so I listed Dancing Bare on Craigslist and my Facebook page. A friend who had moved to Oregon this past year saw it and contacted his friend in Coeur d'Alene who runs the outdoor program at North Idaho College. Jon called me and wants the canoe and will pick it up in May after he returns from his late April Grand Canyon trip. So Dancing Bare will have a new home up north but still in Idaho, loved by yet another river person. And Jon and I agreed I could borrow her back should I get the hankering to take her out with someone one last time.
